


The doors of death - Gray and Mel's random fanfiction

by AlinasTeaParty



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-04
Updated: 2017-03-04
Packaged: 2018-09-28 05:53:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10075166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlinasTeaParty/pseuds/AlinasTeaParty
Summary: Emma wanted to read this??? It's so bad??? 7/10 would not recommend





	

When I finished the call with Zeus I roll my eyes.

“That was fun!” I say with a laugh.

“You’re telling me, the entire time I could swear he was imagining eating my Kidneys,” he says and I burst out laughing and he joins in. He leaves his arm around my shoulders and we walk out of the cabin.

“You know, I think I like you better with your kidneys,” I say jokingly and he hugs me tighter to his side for a moment.

“I think I like myself better with them too,” he says as we get to the big house where Chiron is carrying four flags, each a different colour; a black one, a white one, a yellow one, and a silver one.

“One for each god,” he’s explaining to Keily who’s by his side, and she takes the yellow one he hands her. Great black one for me, I mean it’s perfect, but after a while you get sick of being stereotyped as ‘the black one,’ or ‘the dark one,’ or now in my dad’s case ‘the shadow princess,’ “Ah I see that they have finally decided to re-join us,” Chiron adds regarding us.

“Look Chiron, I know you’re pissed but can you stop talking to us like we’re pieces of shit?” I ask angrily, as he hands me the black flag, and Luke the silver one.

“I’m sorry, but I just can’t…” he trails off, seeing the anger in my eyes, Nico isn’t the only one who’s suffered at the hands of my temper. “When will you be leaving on this quest of yours?” he asks and I smile.

“Tomorrow morning, eight o’clock,” I reply and he looks confused.

“I would have thought you’d want to leave today,” he says and I shake my head.

“Well two things, one: I rescued Kaden from right in front of it today, it’ll be expecting us to come after it today, so if we leave tomorrow, its guard will be down. And two: tonight I have a date with a god,” I say and he looks at me confused. “Well many gods, really, all of the major ones except Daddy dearest,” I say and he raises an eyebrow – I can imagine Dad’s disdainful look at the name.

“Set up a meeting to secure the safety of Luke?” he asks as a polite jab.

“Actually,” I say with a dramatic pause, “I was invited,” I say and he looks astounded. “Keily you got the west corner right? You’ll be ok to get there on your own?” I ask and she nods with a smile, she’s going to annoy the hell out of Chiron for me. “Well I’ll see you at the end of the game, as soon as your flag has been gotten, you come back to the porch here with your champion,” I say and she nods. Luke and I walk into the nearest shadow and we open our eyes in the Far East corner of the forest.

“So, what’s going on with you three?” Luke asks, referring to Keily, Chiron, and I.

“Oh you know, Keily and I left camp without permission, Ok we decided to leave, no time to relax really, to many rules, then when I came back yesterday he was pissed, tried some, ‘people on a quest don’t come back until they either fail or succeed on said quest,’ crap on me and I threw back ‘I’m not one of the seven, I’m just tagging along for a while,’ and he got real mad when I just walked off, so now he’s talking to us like shit because that’s all he can do to us now,” I explain and he raises an eyebrow.

“You ditched camp?” he asks and I nod.

“Yes now, this is your corner, plant your flag somewhere and I’ll see you after the game I say and he hesitates before letting go of my shoulders. I smile and duck into a shadow and come out in the south corner, the best place to plant a flag. I hear all the campers cheering far off, they’ll start the game soon, and already I am longing to be with Luke and Keily, and the rest of my family aboard the Argo II again. Then I feel them running towards the forest like a stampede. Then Mr. D’s voice. Explaining the rules of the game, that they were not to try and kill each other and that when they got to a flag, stick with whoever the ‘guardian’ of the flag was, until they got to the porch again, and the game was over. I sit and listen as the campers start the game, a few yelps that I believe belong to Drew. I snicker quietly and sit cross-legged on a large rock with my flag stuck in the ground beside me. For about fifteen minutes I listen to confused and frustrated cries when campers couldn’t find a flag, until about four campers show up at once from different angles, they are all wearing helmets so I can’t see who they are, but one is smaller, and definitely female.

“Game on! Come get it!” I say with a laugh and they all look at each other and run towards the flag, and to my surprise, the girl who looked flimsy and like she’d break at any moment ran with so much speed in a weaving motion around the boys with a green thing following her then around a tree, the boys all hit the long green thing, which I now see is a vine, and topple over, the girl then dances over to me and I smile. “Demeter?” I ask and she smiles pulling off her helmet, I see she’s very pretty, and she reminds me slightly of a nymph. “Name?” I ask and she smiles, holding out her hand.

“Lucinda Kurr, but you can call me Lucy,” she says and I shake her dainty hand. “You’re doubting that I’m good enough for this quest aren’t you?” she asks as the boys start to get up and remove their helmets so they can rub their heads. I recognise two of them; Will Solace, Keily’s brother, and Mitchel, Piper’s brother. The other one I didn’t know.

“I just saw you take down three great fighters in under five seconds, I’m not doubting you,” I say and she grins. “Let’s get out of here,” I say and she nods, grabbing the flag. I put a hand on her wrist and pull her into the shadow, she blinks a few times when we arrive in the shadow of the big house.

“Wow, how?” she asks as we walk around to the porch that is completely empty.

“Daughter of Hades, I can do that,” I answer simply and she nods, we sit at the small table there. “So Lucinda… Can I call you Lucy?” I ask and she shrugs.

“I prefer Lucky, honestly,” she says quietly and I nod.

“Lucky it is, how old are you lucky?” I ask and she sighs.

“Fifteen almost sixteen, people always treat me like a toddler because of it!” she replies and I burst out laughing.

“What?” she asks and I get a hold on my laughter quickly.

“It’s just I’m fifteen, and only barely, and people treat me like I’m older,” I say and she crosses her arms. A few clouds pass in front of the sun and a large shadow is cast over the camp.

“You know, for a daughter of Hades, you’re very boppy,” she says with half a sneer and for that I grab her hand and take her back to the middle of the Forest, and put her down, before going back to where I was sitting before, right in front of Clarisse.

“Holy Hades!” she exclaims before walking over to me calmly.

“Guess what, you’re now the champion of the black flag, congratulations,” I say, Clarisse I could handle, but not scrawny bitches who will label me according to my father, oh the stories I could tell her about her mother.

“Great, I got no issue with that,” she says and I grab her hand and we end up at the big house. Where Keily is now sitting with Nyssa, playing a rather intense game of go fish.

“Hey guys!” I say, “Got La Rue,” I say with a sly smile.

“Yeah I saw you dump the other girl, what happened there?” Keily asks and I laugh. “Four of hearts?” she asks Nyssa.

“Go fish,” she replies and laughs as Keily picks up a card.

“Scrawny Scylla tried to stereotype me cause of Dad, big mistake there,” I reply and the four of us start laughing. Clarisse and I walk up to where they’re sitting. I lean on one of the poles holding the awning up. “So where were you held up?” I ask and Keily smirks.

“Near the river, where I got my first scar,” she says and I shake my head, she always sentimental about that spot.

“That would have been hard to guess,” I say sarcastically and she grins.

“Oh it was,” Nyssa says jokingly, rolling her eyes. “Two of spades?” she asks and Keily hands over a card. “I win!” she exclaims.

“Damn it! I really wanted another Katana!” Keily says in a huff, “What about you,” she asked me.

“Where else?” I ask and she laughs, knowing where I mean.

“The pile of rocks that we used during the battle,” she says and I laugh

“That’s the one! Hey, La Rue, I’m sure you have something to say, I’ve never heard you be this quiet,” I say with a light chuckle. She smiles and pushes my shoulder.

“Hey, look who it is,” Nyssa says, gesturing behind me with her chin. I turn and see Luke walking up with a girl who I recognised to be a daughter of Aphrodite, but I’d seen her fight, she’s dangerous and fast. I smile and walk over to them. The girl smiles warmly at me, and for the first time since I met Piper, I liked a daughter of the love goddess.

“Hi, I’m Katie,” she says holding her olive skinned hand out to me, I take it in mine and shake it.

“I’m Mavis, I’ve seen you fight, you’re good,” I say and she grins and her face startles me, her eyes changed from green, to blue, to purple and back. She looks younger than me, but I know she’s about sixteen or seventeen.

“Thanks,” she says as I drop her hand and move so I’m next to Luke and we walk up to the porch.

“Hey Clarisse,” Luke greets her and she nods to him, looking away. Luke opens his mouth to say something but I shake my head.

“Don’t, she’s not ripping your head off, accept that, ok?” I warn him softly and he nods, she looks at me and nods as well. I knew this was a truce that was being formed, but at the moment it’s delicate.

“Are we all here?” Chiron asks with a slightly ill looking Connor and Travis sitting on his back.

“Yeah,” I say stifling a laugh.

“These two refused to separate, so I figured, an extra set of hands would be helpful,” He says as the brothers slide off his back and stumble over to us.

“Remind us to never accept a ride from Chiron again,” Connor says sitting on the stairs.

“Will do,” Luke says with a laugh. Katie taps me on the arm gently and I turn to look at her.

“Do you have a hair tie I could borrow?” she asks timidly and I gab one off my wrist and hand it to her.

“Thanks,” she says twisting her long brown hair into a bun smaller than I would have thought possible with hair that long.

“Any time,” I say and turn back to see Chiron cantering back to the forest to round up the campers.

“Majestic isn’t he?” Luke asks with a laugh and we all join in.

“Absolutely,” I agree and sit down. Katie and Luke follow suit on either side of me.

“So Katie, how old are you?” I ask and she smiles.

“Sixteen and a half,” she replies quietly and I poke her.

“Really? Cool, you know you don’t have to be quiet if you don’t want, I know Drew is in charge at the moment and doesn’t like you being loud, but I’m not Drew,” I say and she smiles.

“Thanks, she honestly frightens me,” she admits and I smile and get the compact from my pocket.

“She frightens me too, that’s why I took this, thought she’d freak if she couldn’t find it,” I say and I hear Keily and Nyssa start up their game again. Katie laughs and I hand her the compact. “Keep hold of that, when she gets on your nerves, show her you have it, and you’re not scared of her anymore,” I say and she nods with a wide smile. We look over to the forest and see campers coming between the trees.

“Show time, on your feet,” Luke says standing up and Katie and I stand and she walks to his other side, Clarisse turns around and stand next to me, Nyssa and Keily Join the line, followed bu Connor and Travis. As the campers gather in front of us I take a deep breath. I take Luke’s hand, because I’m suddenly nervous, he gives it a squeeze and I feel a bit better.

“Hey! How come there are eight of ‘em up there?” a son of Hecate calls from the back of the crowd, I only know of his mother due to the purple fog emanating from him in his angry confusion.

“Have you ever tried to separate the Stoll brothers?” Mitchell calls from somewhere in the middle of the crowd, other than that, no one argues.

“We have out questers, a fine team you’ll make, I’m sure,” Dionysus says from behind us. Then something occurs to me.

“Hey Mr. D, weren’t you called back to Mount Olympus?” I say and he smirks.

“Yes, but I was sent down to see what the shenanigans about Castellan being alive is all about,” he says and I shrug.

“Fair enough,” I say as Chiron trots up to us.

“Our questers are; Mavis Takashi Stray, Clarisse La Rue, Keily Otari, Nyssa Mandaris, Luke Castellan, Katie Maree Kruna, Connor Stoll, and Travis Stoll, they will leave tomorrow at eight am, now everyone, back to your usual activities!” Chiron says and everyone sighs but then walk off in different directions. Chiron turns to face us and looks over us.

“This is a mismatched bunch,” he says his eyes narrowing when he sees mine and Luke’s intertwined hands.

“Maybe it’s the fact that we’re mismatched that we’ll succeed,” I say narrowing my eyes as if Chiron and I were having a competition to see who could get their eyes narrowest.

“Maybe,” he says and walks away without another word, behind us, Dionysus scoffs.

“Temperamental old centaur,” he says and for the first time, I liked the camp’s director. “You should all get to strategizing,” he says and walks inside.

“We’ll have the most privacy in the lounge room of my cabin,” I say and everyone agrees. As a group we walk to my cabin and Katie and Clarisse hesitate and glance at each other before coming in my door.

“Clarisse, Katie, welcome to the Hades cabin,” I say and we sit in the lounge room on various chairs and lounges.

“So, what are we doing?” Connor asks and I laugh, reminded of a scene from Lord of the Rings where a hobbit, Pippin, asks ‘where are we going?’ after signing up for a life threatening quest. We spend the next hours discussing our course of action, we decided it would be best to take Pegasus, and send them home when we land in Manhattan, and I’d have to talk to Zeus about not killing us on the way. When I look at the time I blink to make sure I saw right.

“Shit! Guys, I gotta go talk to Zeus in a minute, and you guys have to go to dinner soon,” I say and everyone nods and stands up.

“See you at campfire, if you’re back in time,” Travis says and I nod.

“Hey, Travis, I promised I’d come back soon, didn’t I?” I say jokingly and he nods and laughs as he leaves with the rest of them, until only Luke and I are left in the cabin’s now seemingly empty lounge room.

“Ok, well I’ll see you when you get back, okay?” Luke says, letting go of my hand for the first time in hours. I smile at him and he smiles back.

“I’ll see you then… Thank you, for risking your life for me… again,” I say and he nods, and walks towards the door.

“No worries, shadow princess,” he says ducking out the door. I walk to my room in full smiles. I grab out a clean pair of jeans, then think better of them, I grab out a floor length black dress, which had been shortened just a little bit so it didn’t drag along the ground, and a pair of black flat shoes. Hera had once re-dressed me when she didn’t approve of my ripped jeans and T-shirt- might I add that this was after the battle for Olympus, why she cared what I wore is anybody’s guess-, and it wasn’t a pleasant experience. I walk to the bathroom that is between Nico’s and my rooms, with a door from each room. I lock both doors and start the shower. When I’m clean and dressed, I walk out brushing my hair into a bun with pieces falling around my face. A trick that I’d learned while getting ready for my class play when I was ten, the only time I ever went to school from camp was that year. Looking at the clock I see that it’s ten to five so I think about the Janitors closet on the fourth floor as I walk to the corner. When I’m in the closet I open the door to make sure no one is in the hallway and I duck out and press the button for the elevator. When the doors open I step inside and press the button that is hidden by the mist, which will take me to Olympus. Once at the top the doors open and I look around.

“Yep, Annabeth has definitely been here,” I say to myself and picture the shadow near the front doors to the ‘Main Hall’ as I call it, and I walk into the nearest shadow and emerge right where I thought I would. I knock and the doors swing open. I see the gods in their massive forms, most of them smiling at me, except Poseidon, who’s annoyed at my Dad again no doubt. Hera looked pleased that I was wearing something suitable.

“Mavis,” Zeus greets simply and I sigh, only the Major Olympians were her today.

“Zeus” I greet him then go through the long and formal process of greeting the gods, “Hera, Poseidon,” I say in one breath and bow my head to them, “Aphrodite, Hephaestus, Demeter,” I add bowing my head again, six down, six to go, I think solemnly, “Dionysus, Artemis, Apollo,” I nod my head, one more lot, “Hermes, Athena, Ares,” I say nodding once more. Hermes looks at me like he wants to talk to me, about Luke no doubt.

“I have invited you here, so you can learn of your gifts that we have bestowed upon you,” Zeus says so firmly and formally, I want to shrink back into darkness but I stand my ground and force myself to smile politely. “Usually we would tell you each in our ow time, but as it seems you have your mind set on knowing, we shall tell you now, let’s begin,” he adds and I feel my smile falter for a moment. “I gave you an… Ease of passage through my domain, which means you can fly without being struck down, a gift which you somehow managed to pass to your bother, Nico Di Angelo recently,” he says and I sigh, Nico’s safe, for now at least. Athena stepped forward.

“I gave you a thirst for knowledge, and the ability to strategize when others are… uh… Frazzled,” she says with an extremely pretty grin, remembering the word I’d used on the one encounter we’d had that I could remember. I smile and look at Ares as he stands up.

“I gave you determination… Fight, like no one other than my children has,” he says and I smile, from the god of war, that was a pretty cool gift. Seeing as he could have given me something like the love of cutting my hair extremely short or something. He sits down and Hephaestus stands up, fiddling with a nut and bolt like I’d seen Leo do when he’s nervous.

“I gave you a love of building, whatever your skill of building is, I have no idea, and weather it’s a love of building items, or personal bonds is up to your personality,” he says and I smile wider.

“Well I can’t build items, so I’m guessing it’s the latter,” I say and he nods, sitting down as Aphrodite stands up.

“I gave you a gift, similar to charm speak, it causes people to trust you, follow you,” she says and that is possibly the most effective gift yet. She sits down with a warm smile and Apollo stands.

“I gave you healing skills,” he says with a grin “also, wicked Haiku skills,” I roll my eyes as he sits down. Hera stands up.

“I gave you a happy ending,” she says and I feel touched, I blink back a tear. She sits down and Poseidon stands.

“I gave you the gift of being able to breathe underwater,” he says sitting down as Artemis stands up.

“I gave you the gift of stealth,” she says with a wink and sits down. Demeter stands up with a glare, she must have seen, or been told about what happened with her daughter.

“I gave you the gift of control over flowers and vines,” she says and my shoulders droop slightly. She sits and Hermes stands.

“I gave you the gift of… sticky fingers,” he says and I smile, he sits and Dionysus stands last.

“I gave you the ability to turn water into wine,” the look on his face told me ‘yes that’s me making fun of Christianity,’ he says sitting down.

“Thank you, all of you, but why?” I ask and Zeus stands once more.

“Because you are the third demigod born, by the… uhh Big three... since the Second World War… You should ask Chiron about that actually, but because these gifts will help you to survive,” he says “Now I believe Hermes has a few words he wishes to have with you,” he says dismissively, and the other Olympians stand and leave, to go about their business, whatever that is. Hermes walks over to me, shrinking as he comes over.

“Hello Mavis,” he says with a smile.

“Hermes,” I greet, nervously.

“I just want to thank you,” he says which startles me. I’d expected him to be angry, or something that would make sense.

“For bringing Luke back?” I ask and he smiles.

“Yes,” he says and I smile back at him.

“Well I couldn’t leave my best friend down there when I didn’t have to,” I say and he looks at me funny. He’s not buying it.

“Is that the only reason you brought him back?” he asks ask though he knows the answer.

“Look, I missed him ok? He really is my best friend and I would have tried to join him, had my father just let me die!” I say clenching my fist.

“Thought so,” he said smugly and I change the subject.

“Why is Poseidon angry this time?” I ask looking over at him as he lounged in his throne.

“He and your father had a bet, and your dad, he won,” he tells me and I nod.

“What was the bet?” I ask him, curiously.

“Uh… That you’d take advantage of the doors being open,” he says and I smile.

“So what did I win for my dad?” I ask with a smile that he matches.

“Not a clue, must have been important though,” he says with a shrug.

“Ok, well I‘ve got to go, I’ll see you around,” I say as I turn to step into the shadows.

“Wait,” he says putting his hand on my elbow and I turn.

“What?” I ask pulling my elbow away from him.

“Sticky fingers is not my gift,” he says and I raise my eyebrow. “I gave you a future, I can’t tell you more than that, but when you work it out, you’ll thank me,” he says and I nod, before disappearing into the shadows. I’d never tried going directly from Olympus to camp, but I’m trying it now. I find myself in the same spot I was in when I returned to camp from the Argo II, near the campfire. I see Luke sitting towards the outskirts of the group and I walk over to him and collapse next to him.

“Hey there,” he says as I lean my head on his shoulder. Keily stands up from where she’s sitting and runs over to us. A smile plastered across her face, she sits next to us, her ripped skinny jeans covered in dirt, and her white and black flannel shirt pretty much the same.

“Hey,” she says happily, watching the fire change colours as the others sang.

“Why are you so happy?” I ask with a laugh, and she looks down at the ground.

“No reason,” she says, and I sit up.

“Leo called didn’t he?” I ask and she nods.

“And?” I press for details and she shakes her head, “awe come on Kee!” I say and she looks at me.

“Nothing! Honestly!” she says with a laugh.

“Tell her the truth! You’re such a bad liar!” Luke exclaims and I look at him with wide eyes, then back at her.

“You told him before me, ok now you have to tell me!” I beg and she rolls her eyes.

“He asked if I wanted to hang out, up there… It’s no big deal,” she says blushing.

“No big deal? Did you just say no big deal?” I ask with a grin. “What did you say?” I ask bewildered.

“I said no” she says sarcastically, “what do you think I said Mave?” she asks rhetorically, and I hug her. “So what’s going on with you guys?” she asks me and Luke and I blush looking away.

“I… Uh… I don’t know… Luke, have you got a better answer for her?” I ask and he smiles crookedly.

“Want to go work it out?” he asks and I nod, standing up, he stands and we walk away from a glowing Keily she stared into the fire dreamily, seriously anyone would thing Eros had poked her and the fire. We walked in peaceful silence by the lake for a moment.

“So,” I say to start us off, and he looks down at me, his blond hair falling in his eyes. “Time for a haircut,” I say absent-mindedly reaching up and moving it from his eyes. He laughs lightly and I feel like I’m flying.

“So,” he says and I smile, “What do you think?” he asks and I look up at him again, seeing the moon glinting in his blue eyes, I felt like I was on top of the world.

“I think that I’ve seriously liked you for quite a while,” I say and he grins.

“Hey Mavis?” he asks and I stop walking to turn to face him ‘I gave you a future,’ Hermes words echoed in my heads and I think I know what he means.

“Yeah?” I ask and he brushes a piece of hair behind my ear.

“Do you want to go out with me?” he asks uncertainty, and I grin and hug him tightly, listening to his heart beat as he puts a hand on my back.

“Yes,” I murmur and he kisses the top of my head.

“I love you, Mave,” he says and I close my eyes in bliss.

“I love you too Luke,” I reply and pull away and take his hand. I love this already. We walk back to the campfire, our arms swinging between us. Keily was right where we left her staring dreamily into the fire. We sit next to her and she looks at us, then our hands, the blue and green fire flickered with a deep red as I leaned into Luke’s shoulder, Keily, Luke, and my feelings overpowering the happiness of some of the campers.

“So…?” she asks with a raised eyebrow, and I nod she grin broadly and the three of us start to join in with the songs.

When we had all finished singing the three of us stood up and waved to Nyssa, Connor and Travis who were talking and walking away. We walk towards the Apollo cabin first and I hear a few people humming inside.

“So we get going in the morning,” Keily asks and I nod and then lean my head on Luke’s shoulder.

“Yeah, we’ll see you then,” I say tiredly, struggling to keep my eyes open.

“See you then, get some sleep,” she says and walks inside without another word. Luke and I share a look but don’t say anything about her tired distance. We start to walk towards the Hermes cabin in silence I rest my head on his shoulder and I can tell something is bothering him.

“What’s wrong?” I ask quietly.

“I’m just remembering what I’ve done… To everyone here,” he says and I sigh.

“Luke...”

“No, Mavis, I did the wrong thing. Don’t try and tell me I didn’t because we both know it’s bull,” he says, his tone hinting at the anger I know is inside his head.

“I know you did… I was just going to say that you did what you thought was right, and after all isn’t that what they are teaching us to do?”

“Right for who?” he asks and I look up at him as we stop walking outside the Hermes cabin.

“That doesn’t matter,” I start and he sighs “Luke, it’s not your fault… Besides you saved us all in the end,” I say and he smiles and then Conner and Travis barrel out the door and Luke pulls me aside.

“You know I’m getting a slight sense of Déjà vu,” Luke says, shaking with silent laughter.

“Yeah, you know so am I… It’s the weirdest thing, I could have sworn we’d done this before,” I say with a laugh which is not so silent. Conner and Travis walk back up the stairs towards us.

“Hey you two… Finally been joined at the hip?” Conner asks and I roll my eyes.

“Yeah, this way if he dies it’s easy for me to find him,” I say with another laugh.

“True…” Travis says and suddenly he looks uncertain. Luke noticed it too.

“Man, is something wrong?” he asks carefully.

“Awe, man, I’m sorry… the other kids… They don’t trust you… They…. Erm…” Travis struggled and for once, Connor didn’t seem ready to help him out.

“No, I get it, tell them not to worry, I’ll find somewhere to crash,” Luke says and I glance up at him to see the slight smile that was hiding the rage that they wouldn’t notice.

“Ok, again I’m real sorry, see you tomorrow,” Travis says and Connor mumbles something along the same lines and I wonder what they aren’t telling us, they walk back up the stairs, past us and into the cabin, the door slamming shut behind them.

“That’s just perfect! My own siblings don’t trust me,” Luke says, his voice hinting at anger and his hands balling into fists.

“Luke, you said it yourself, you did the wrong thing,” I say and instantly regret it as he glares at me “I’m not saying I agree with them, I’m just saying I understand where they’re coming from,”

“I know… I’m sorry… You should go to bed, I’ll find somewhere to crash and see you in the morning,” he says and I nod then an idea occurs to me.

“Well, it’s not like I have twenty brothers and sisters to share a cabin with…. It’s just me…. You could…” I suggest, glancing up at him and he smiles.

“And what would Chiron think of that?” he says, his voice laced with humour and all traces of anger were gone.

“Why do I care? He doesn’t like me anyways, and I think right now he’s less than fond of you,” I say and he shrugs.

“True,” he draws it out as he thinks it over. “What the hell, with my luck we’ll die on this quest anyways,” he says with a light laugh and I roll my eyes.

“Come on, it’s getting late and quite frankly, I’m cold,” I say and we start to walk side by side to my cabin. Pausing at the door, Luke sighs.

“You sure you’re alright with this?” he asks and I roll my eyes.

“Dude, we shared a cabin for over a year, many of those nights I spent in your bed because of my nightmares, I think I’ll be fine,” I say and he nods, pushing open the door and we walk inside as the lanterns lighting themselves and bathing the room in green light “Choose a bunk, I don’t mind which you take,” I tell him and walk towards my room with him sticking to my heels. I pull away and throw myself onto my bed rolling once in the air then landing with my back facing the wall so I can see the bunk on the opposite side of the room where Luke was flopping down, finally showing his exhaustion.

“I’ll have to get clothes tomorrow before we leave,” he was the image of perfection where he lay, with a foot hanging of the side of the bed, his hands folded on his stomach and his eyes closed.

“Remember what I said about me keeping most of your stuff because I couldn’t let go?” He opened one eye to look at me sideways.

“Yeah?”

“That doesn’t just include weapons and your extensive G.I Joe collection,” I joke as I get up from my bed and walk over to the trap door.

“Ha, ha, you’re real funny,” there was sarcasm dripping from his voice but I could tell that he was trying not to laugh.

“I know right,” I jump down into the dark and come out a moment later after I throw out a blue backpack. I closed the door and hand the bag to him. He sits up to rummage through it, after a moment, a smile spreads across his face. “What?” I sit beside him to see what he’s found. It was a homemade card. Made out of unevenly cut light blue cardboard, for a moment I almost didn’t even recognise it, even though the carefully written letters that spelled out ‘thanks for protecting me’ were written in my own, childish hand. It was the flick of the ‘G’ that reminded me that it was my handwriting. Luke opened it to reveal the photograph I’d stuck in it. It was of five kids, Luke, Annabeth, Grover, Cameron and me. Luke was in the middle, I was to his right, between him and Cameron and they both had their arms over my shoulders. Luke’s other arm was draped over Annabeth’s shoulders and she was grinning up at him as he’d just finished telling her a joke. She had her arm wrapped around Grover who was standing awkwardly but was grinning like the rest of us.

“You never properly smiled before then,” he said quietly and he looked at me with a smile that wrinkled the scar on his cheek and I couldn’t help but reach up to run my fingers along it.

“It was a good day,” was all I said in return.

“Yes it was,”

“Today wasn’t too bad either,” I say, it was then that I realised his nose was only an inch or two from mine. He chuckled under his breath.

“The last two days have been good,” he brushes a strand of hair from my cheek, I didn’t even need to think about it, I leaned forward and pressed my lips to his. Softly, gently, as if I could hurt him. I pulled away after a moment and he smiled. “What was that for?”

“Everything... That, and I felt like it,” I look down to hide my blush. He hooked a finger under my chin and lifts my face to look up at him. His eyes search mine and I don’t have time to think ‘holy hades’ before he’s kissing me again. His lips were still soft but they were also strong and sure on mine. When he pulled away, we were both grinning like idiots.

“I love you, Mavis,” he whispered, pressing his forehead to mine.

“I love you too,” I kiss him again gently


End file.
